This sad holiday season we didn’t have the brewing capacity to make our favorite seasonal brew, the widely feared BrownShugga’ Ale. You see we had a couple of really good years (thank you very much) and so heading into this season while we are awaiting the January delivery of a new brewhouse we are jammin’ along brewing 80 barrels of IPA and PILS and such every 3 hours. A couple of months back we realized that since we can only brew a mere 60 barrels of Shugga’ every 5 hours, that we were seriously screwed. For every case of Shugga’ brewed, we’d short 3 cases of our favorite daily beers. It’s a drag. This year, we brewed something that we think is also cool and brews more like our daily brews. The new brewhouse will help insure this kind of failure never happens again. It’s a mess that we can not brew our BrownShugga’ this year and we suck for not doing it. There is nothing cool about screwing this up this badly and we know it. Maybe we can sue our own sorry selves. There is no joy in our hearts this holiday and the best we can hope for is a quick and merciful end. F*@& us. This totally blows. Whatever. We freaking munch moldy donkey butt and we just want it to be all over... So this substitute beer is a ‘Cereal Medley’ of Barley, Rye, Wheat, and Oats…. Full of complexishness from the 4 grains, and weighing in at 7.85% abv, Then joyously dry-hopped for that big aroma and resinous hop flavor.

UPDATED: FEB 11, 2013 The pour is a clear golden color with a white head. Extremely hoppy with a nice citrus and floral hop character. Great pine, some tropical fruit, and sweet pale malt and bread notes. The flavor is quite similar to the aroma. A lot of citrus peel and floral hop flavors. A light spicy hop character, too. As with the aroma, malt and sweet bread flavors. Pronounced tropical fruit an pine. Medium carbonation and body.

(Draught) Pours a clear golden body with a medium white head. Aroma of bread, grain, citrus, caramel, and grass. Flavor of bread, grass, citrus, and pine. Sucks? Not quite, just not one of their better beers.

Bottle. Pours amber gold with very little head. Aroma is resin, perhaps with a hint of orange. Near full bodied, thinning as the carb leaves. Flavor is resin over rye? It’s not excessively sweet, and seems pretty astringent. Lots of hop in here fer sure. Certainly not a spice/veg/herb xmas ale!

Draft. Poured a clear golden color with an average frothy white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate spruce and citrus hop aroma. Medium body with a slick texture and soft carbonation. Medium to heavy bittersweet flavor with a medium to heavy bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. My expectations where met.

Join us! RateBeer is made by beer enthusiasts for the craft beer community.
Your basic membership is free and allows you to read all beer ratings.
Click here to create your account... and give your opinion!